Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Don't Give Up On Politics

Robert Reich talks about how the extreme right wing has shut down the federal government in order to sow cynicism and apathy among the population in order to make them give caring and allowing the right to reap whatever havoc they want. They key part:
It’s a vicious cycle. As average Americans give up on government, they pay less attention to what government does or fails to do — thereby making it easier for the moneyed interests to get whatever they want: tax cuts for themselves and their businesses; regulatory changes that help them but harm employees, consumers, and small investors; special subsidies and other forms of corporate welfare. And these skewed benefits only serve to confirm the public’s cynicism.

The same cynicism also makes it easier to convince the public that even when the government does act for the benefit of the vast majority, it’s not really doing so. So a law like the Affordable Care Act, which, for all its shortcomings, is still a step in the right direction relative to the costly mess of the nation’s healthcare system, is transformed into a nightmarish “government takeover.”

So here’s what I told my friend who said he’s giving up on politics: Don’t. If you give in to bullies, their bullying only escalates. If you give in to cynicism about our democracy, our democracy steadily erodes.

If you believe the fix is in and the game is rigged, and that a handful of billionaires and their Tea Party puppets are destroying our government, do something about it. Rather than give up, get more involved. Become more active. Make a ruckus. It’s our government, and the most important thing you can do for yourself, your family, your community, and the future, is to make it work for all of us.
I would point out that this goes not only for the federal government, but also state and local governments as well.

I would also emphasize that it's not just the Teapublicans, but the corporate Democrats that cater to the well-moneyed and the plutocrats that need to get pushed out as well.

2 comments:

  1. Unfortunately, most of the Democratic base seem to be too ignorant to know the importance of voting in mid-term elections. That's how we got Scott Walker. They wait four years to vote for President and then vote for whichever Democrats happen to be on the ballot. That's how we got Tammy Baldwin.

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  2. Agree with this sentiment. I have little doubt part of the GOP strategy is to screw things up so badly and make the system so corrupt that the casual bystanders throw their hands up and say "They're all crooks", and give up.

    This is why we need to push back hard against anyone who tries that "both parties are the same" BS, because it plays into the GOP oligarchs' hands

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